The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

1779: J. King and C. Ryskamp (eds.) ‘The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper’ vol. 1 (1979) p.
308
Our severest winter, commonly called the spring.
Letter to the Revd William Unwin, 8 June 1783, in J. King and C. Ryskamp (eds.) ‘The Letters and Prose
Writings of William Cowper’ vol. 2 (1981) p. 139
Mr Grenville squeezed me by the hand again, kissed the ladies, and withdrew. He kissed
likewise the maid in the kitchen, and seemed upon the whole a most loving, kissing, kind-hearted
gentleman.
Letter to the Revd John Newton, 29 March 1784, in J. King and C. Ryskamp (eds.) ‘The Letters and Prose
Writings of William Cowper’ vol. 2 (1981) p. 229
3.191 George Crabbe 1754-1832
‘What is a church?’—Our honest sexton tells,
‘’Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.’
‘The Borough’ (1810) Letter 2 ‘The Church’ l. 11
Virtues neglected then, adored become,
And graces slighted, blossom on the tomb.
‘The Borough’ (1810) Letter 2 ‘The Church’ l. 133
Ye Lilies male! think (as your tea you sip,
While the Town small-talk flows from lip to lip;
Intrigues half-gathered, conversation-scraps,
Kitchen-cabals, and nursery-mishaps,)
If the vast World may not some scene produce,
Some state where your small talents might have use.
‘The Borough’ (1810) Letter 3 ‘The Vicar’ l. 69
Habit with him was all the test of truth,
‘It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth.’
‘The Borough’ (1810) Letter 3 ‘The Vicar’ l. 138
There anchoring, Peter chose from man to hide,
There hang his head, and view the lazy tide
In its hot slimy channel slowly glide;
Where the small eels that left the deeper way
For the warm shore, within the shallows play;
Where gaping mussels, left upon the mud,
Slope their slow passage to the fallen flood;—
Here dull and hopeless he’d lie down and trace
How sidelong crabs had scrawled their crooked race...
He nursed the feelings these dull scenes produce,
And loved to stop beside the opening sluice;
Where the small stream, confined in narrow bound,
Ran with a dull, unvaried, sad’ning sound;